Humanverse

Madeline vs Madilynne

American parents have registered 207,630 Madelines since 1880, against 560 Madilynnes. Madeline is still ahead, with 3,086 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Madeline against Madilynne, 1880 to 2025 0 1.5k 3k 4.5k 6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Madeline Madilynne

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Madeline has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2012, when Madeline had 3,162 and Madilynne had 33.

Side by side

  Madeline Madilynne
Total US births 207,630560
Most in one year 5,86937
Babies in 2025 3,0869
Estimated living today 158,000560
Median age today 2213
Peak year 19982009
Best rank 50th girls4,107th girls
Rank in 2025 81st10,107th
First recorded 18801997
Girls / boys 207,385 / 245560 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Madelines alive today are over 22; half the Madilynnes are over 13. That is 9 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Madeline and Madilynne.